It would be nonsensical to blame economists for not foreseeing the crisis; even less for causing it. It was obvious there would be a crisis. It was
impossible to foresee how it would start and evolve, and at what moment these events would occur.
impossible to foresee how it would start and evolve, and at what moment these events would occur.
One reason will suffice: in human affairs, and especially where the economy is concerned, a crisis is triggered when one foresees it and announces it, and not at the moment when one foresees that it will occur, so sensitive are present events to the anticipation of future events.
What is in question at the present moment is not finance capitalism; it is not capitalism per se; it is not the market, regulated or unregulated, self- regulated or self-deregulated, subject or not to short-selling. It is the place of the economy in our individual lives as in the workings of our societies.